Giant painting depicts lifeline to Tibet

Source: Xinhua  |   2008-6-16  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

A GIANT Tibetan thangka painting which portrays the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and beautiful scenery along the line is being displayed at an exhibition in northwest China's Qinghai Province to mark China's third Cultural Heritage Day over the weekend.

The 195.6-meter-long and 1.2-meter-wide thangka, a kind of scroll painting mounted on brocade dating back more than 1,000 years ago, made its debut on Saturday at the Qinghai International Thangka Arts and Cultural Heritage Expo held in Xining, the provincial capital.

Almost all previous Thangkas were limited to religious figures and stories. The painting, entitled "Sky Road," is the first and the longest product depicting modern life of Tibetans, said thangka designer Bao Lin.

"We want to give people a general idea about the present-day life of Tibetans and ecological conditions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau since the world's highest railway was built," he said. It took more than 60 Tibetan artists four years to complete "Sky Road."

Since its operation on July 1, 2006, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was described by locals as a "Sky Road" which brings a happier life for them as trains would carry more tourists to Tibet and transport local products to other parts of the country.